Interactive Marketing Insights from SXSW 2012

At this year’s South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, TX, thousands of marketers, developers, and digital strategists met for a marathon of learning sessions, networking opportunities, and glimpses into what brands from large to small are doing in the digital realm.

On Saturday, we were excited to kick off the week with ReachLocal’s own Mike Merrill and Tiffany Monhollon speaking to a standing-room only crowd about local marketing. The session, titled “Your Marketing Sucks: Why You Need to Think Local,” offered 10 practical tips that marketers – from independent local businesses to large, national brands – can use to incorporate local into their online marketing strategy. Here are some of the top tweets and highlights that attendees shared from the session:

“So simple – we are all local. We live somewhere, so #market to us there w/ an integrated strategy.” – Amy Daniels, amedaniels

“Search engines are the number 1 source of online information on local businesses for local consumers. Requires strategy.” – Evan Schmidt, @e_sosh

With hundreds of sessions packed into the five days of the Interactive portion of SXSW, there was a little something for everyone – and a diverse array of topics and speakers from across the globe. Some of our favorite topics focused on social media insights, mobile marketing and innovations, and how the future of technology may impact user experience, customer expectations, and marketing. So, here are few of our favorite soundbytes from the week.

Social Media Insights
Many sessions offered insights into social media tools, direct from company experts, as well as practical applications from industry thought leaders. Here are some social media insights that attendees shared on Twitter:

Social Media & Customer Service
In one panel focused on social media and customer service, experts shared insights and advice on using the social media tools to connect with your audience beyond just broadcasting messages on another digital channel.

“Fundamental social question: Do you just want to sell stuff or do you want to own the culture & conversation of your category? #sxcustserv” – John Harris, @netharris

“Try not to delete content from users, unless it is incredibly offensive or illegal. Otherwise it adds fuel to the fire #SXCustServ” – Luis Benitez, @lbenitez

“Tremendous power in posting answer on page. The rest of community sees transparency and into brand culture” #sxcustserv” – Alina Cowden, @alicowden

Mobile Marketing
The future of mobile was a huge topic that many different sessions touched on, from how new technological advances will help innovation in the space to the different implications these changes will have in users’ lives. Here are a few quotes from one popular session on mobile:

“Instead of me telling Foursquare what I’m doing, Foursquare is now telling me what I SHOULD be doing” #SXsmartpush” – BonnieSashin, @bsashin